Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello all,
I am fairly new at welding. I found this forum a few days ago and have already found several useful bits for information, thanks!
One thing I haven't been able to find is advice on how to prepare old dirty metal for welding. I use old metal in "found item" sculptures (sculptures made by welding old bits of junk together). A good many of these old metal items are use car parts which typically have grease, oil or other contaminants on them. I did read the article about brake cleaner and will stay well away from that. Is there a safe way to clean these parts before welding? Thanks again.

ID red or clear pvc cleaner or any degreaser. problem is that any good degreaser is highly flammable but does evaporate quickly, like break cleaner. after the piece is clean let it sit for a while if your that worried about it.

Anthony

Thanks for the good Info. I will give it a try.

i would advise you to not use brake cleaner....and if you do, be sure to clean it a bunch afterwards with acetone and denatured alcohol

If you're creating sculpture, a wire wheel in a grinder will do just fine. Unless you are creating HUGE sculptures, structural strength is usually a minor concern. Artists tend to over-weld for safety. Just beat the rust and dirt off until you have shiny metal at your intended joint.

TIG welding is far more forgiving of crap in the joint, both from a strength standpoint and appearance in the finished weld.

You can use simple green or the engine degreaser soap from the auto parts stores and hot water to wash off the heavy stuff if needed. Dry the parts and then use acetone for a final cleaning or aluminum cleaner but becarefull a lot of the cleaners are acid base. Lastly wire brush and grind the joints. But if you can use 6011 it will burn through rust. I would still recommend getting the grease off though.

Thanks everyone for the great response!

Hey, boodog,

Post a pic or two as your sculptures come along. (Everyone needs a little inspiration now and again.)

Remember, as you progress, there are no stupid questions. There are, however, stupid answers!

Steve

Otto Nobedder wrote:Hey, boodog,

Post a pic or two as your sculptures come along. (Everyone needs a little inspiration now and again.)

Remember, as you progress, there are no stupid questions. There are, however, stupid answers!

Steve

Streve,
Just saw your post. I'll post some pics soon.
Thanks

I use lacquer thinner to clean everything. It gets off grease, oil and even paint and it dries fairly quickly. It's cheap too. I buy it in 5 gallon buckets. It works great on aluminum and it helped my aluminum welds a lot, much better than just brushing it. Just don't leave lacquer thinner soaked rags near you when the sparks are flying!

If you need to get contamenents from inside a joint, I like to use a torch. You can do this in any scenario really, but it is time consuming, and if you have to buy your own gases, very expensive as well.

-Rick

delraydella wrote:I use lacquer thinner to clean everything. It gets off grease, oil and even paint and it dries fairly quickly. It's cheap too. I buy it in 5 gallon buckets. It works great on aluminum and it helped my aluminum welds a lot, much better than just brushing it. Just don't leave lacquer thinner soaked rags near you when the sparks are flying!

Didn't think of that. I will give that a try too. Thanks

I use auto body wax and grease remover. That and a good wire brush and you should be good to go.

lacquer thinner will dissolve a lot more stuff a lot faster than wax and grease remover. there isn't a whole lot of grease/oil/paint type of things that lacquer thinner won't take off. wax and grease remover is intended to have a long flash time so you can completely wipe it off before it dries, leaving a residue, immediately prior to painting.

If you do run into anything that lacquer thinner won't take off, try M.E.K. (methyl ethyl ketone). It will get off 99.9% of anything but you have to be careful as it's powerful stuff. I've used it to clean dried contact cement off of plexiglass. It will soften some plastics. Try to avoid breathing too much of it too, it's a nasty buzz.

Acetone can work well too, but I don't recomend it. After using it for a while, the fumes will tend to "burn" a hole in your throat.

lacquer thinner is acetone, toluene, xylene, and (usually) methanol, sometimes with other things, so I wouldn't be too shy about acetone if you're alright with lacquer thinner. xylene is the nastiest component. toluene is handy to have around in pure form, too. apart from being an octane booster, it's the only thing I've found that will soften automotive trim glue without 'curdling' it. I'm almost positive it's the xylene in lacquer thinner that does this, but it turns it chunky.

totally agree about MEK, though. it's great for adhesives. still won't take off modern automotive urethane. you're pretty much stuck with methylene chloride for that.

I never knew that lacquer thinner had acetone in it. I guess i never bothered to read the ingredients even after using it for over 30 years! For some reason, I've never had a problem with lacquer thinner fumes , but pure acetone will get to me after a few minutes. Maybe when it's mixed , it gets diluted down to a point where I don't notice it.

delraydella wrote:I use lacquer thinner to clean everything. It gets off grease, oil and even paint and it dries fairly quickly. It's cheap too. I buy it in 5 gallon buckets. It works great on aluminum and it helped my aluminum welds a lot, much better than just brushing it. Just don't leave lacquer thinner soaked rags near you when the sparks are flying!

Cool, I'll give it a try. Thanks